To learn mroe about Joe and his Gracie Barra Long Island Academy, visit www.gblongisland.com

On Oct. 23, Felipe “Preguica” Pena will be at GMA Gracie Barra Long Island to lead a seminar. The three-time world champion and Copa Podio star will be making his way from Brazil to the east coast to share his knowledge.

Professor Joe Scarola invites all teams and affiliations to attend the event located at 24 Jericho Turnpike, New Hyde Park, NY 11040.

The seminar will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and the cost will be $60 per person.

Learn more at www.gblongisland.com or call 516-616-4662.

Teams support their students/teammates during a final match. Photo: Erin Herle

The 2014 IBJJF New York Summer Open on Saturday, July 19 brought in the locals and some visitors. The teams present represented the NYC area of schools including some GMA academies: Alliance Marcelo Garcia, Renzo Gracie Academy, Gracie Barra Long Island, Vitor Shaolin Academy, Soca BJJ, Savarese Jiu-Jitsu and more.

The overall team points amounted to these totals:

1 – Alliance Marcelo Garcia – 296
2 – Renzo Gracie – 157
3 – Soca Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu – 100

The Alliance Marcelo Garcia Academy has won the tournament multiple times over the years since its first edition but this was their most tremendous performance thus far.

Multiple photographers captured the day so check out these links to see the galleries:

John “Ric” Ricard and Doug Kline produced photos for the IBJJF here.

Jeff Chu at FighterPlus has his album of photos here.

See the full results of the tournament here.

Inacio Neto at the New York Open earlier this year. Photo: Erin Herle

The next IBJJF championship in New York is the 2014 New York Summer Open on Saturday, July 19. As with every other edition, the athlete list always reaches capacity before the registration deadline is met so register early!

The championship will take place at the traditional venue, the Nat Holman Gymnasium at the City College of New York. It is located at 160 Convent Avenue New York, NY 10031.

Divisions are open for adults and masters, white to black. Already signed up are members of GMA academies ready to defend their turf such as Renzo Gracie, Marcelo Garcia Academy, Vitor Shaolin BJJ Academy, Soca BJJ, Gracie Barra Long Island, Savarese BJJ and more.

You can register now for $110 per person at www.ibjjf.org

Live to Fight is a not for profit organization whose mission is to help those in the martial arts community who are facing life-threatening illnesses. The son of a prominent judo and Jiu-Jitsu black belt on Long Island in New York is currently facing a battle with cancer so Live to Fight is promoting a seminar to gather donations for the medical treatment.

See the story behind this seminar below:

Mark “Stan” Staniszewski’s passion for martial arts began over three decades ago as a young boy growing up on Long Island, NY. Years later, Stan discovered judo and Jiu-Jitsu. Stan excelled in both and has dedicated his life to studying, competing, and teaching the two disciplines.

Stan has medaled in multiple state, national and world competitions and is the first dual black belt on Long Island in both judo and BJJ. He was deservedly inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame in 2010. Stan’s accolades in judo and BJJ seem endless; however, his greatest accomplishments are his two sons, Luke and Jake.

Two years ago, Stan’s youngest son, Jake, was diagnosed with a rare form of pediatric cancer. Jake was diagnosed with advanced stage 4 Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma at only 15 months old. Rhabdomyosarcoma is a type of cancer that develops in the connective tissue, skeletal muscle or bone. The news shocked and devastated the Staniszewski family but Jake is a fighter, just like his father.
Jake has completed over a year of chemotherapy already and the bills have reached over an excess of $150,000. Unfortunately for Jake, the long road of treatment is far from over.

Live To Fight will be holding a benefit BJJ Seminar to help cover the costs of some of Jake’s medical treatment. Live To Fight for Jake will be held on Sunday, May 4th at 1:00 p.m. at Maxum BJJ in Bohemia, Long Island.

The $60 event will be taught be top instructors including Jake’s dad, judo Mark Stan, second degree BJJ black belts Joe Scarola of GMA Gracie Barra Long Island and Karel “Silver Fox” Pravec, UFC veteran Jimmy Quinlan, and third degree BJJ black belt and former UFC Welterweight Champion Matt “The Terror” Serra.

Live To Fight for Jake is open to all schools and skills levels are encouraged to come and participate.

For more information please contact Kristen at Kristen@LiveToFight.org

Funds raised from Live To Fight for Jake will go to Jake Staniszewski and to support LTF’s charitable mission. Live to Fight continues to evolve into the premiere MMA and Combat Sports not for profit platform where we can stand up together and fight back against cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

Learn more about Live to Fight at www.livetofight.org

Members of GMA Soca BJJ show off their medals. Photo: Personal Archive

The NY Pride Championship XIX held on Long Island, NY over the weekend brought athletes from all different teams together.

There were divisions for the children, adults and masters in gi and no-gi. The tournament is the biggest in New York for children in the area. With a huge amount of kids teams in the area at local schools, this was the place to be for who’s who in the youth crew.

GMA academies in attendance were Kioto BJJ who earned the first place team trophy in the kids category as well as the female category, Gracie Barra Long Island, Renzo Gracie Academy, Soca BJJ, Renzo Gracie Newark, Alliance NYC and others.

Check out the full list of results here: http://www.t360reg.com/Results.aspx?TournamentID=1064

The NY Pride XIX tournament on March 8 is already taking names. Members from over sixteen academies have signed up for the event, which will be hosted at a new location. Academies such as GMA Alliance NYC, Gracie Barra Long Island, Kioto BJJ, BTT Boston, Soca BJJ and more will all be in attendance.

The tournament will be located in the John A. Danzi Athletic Center at St. Joseph’s College: 155 West Roe Blvd. Patchogue, NY 11772.

GMA members Eloy Santos and Milton Regis have put together tournament after tournament, always improving with the goal of giving the New York Jiu-Jitsu scene a high-quality event. Registration is still available at the discounted rate for early registration until Monday, Feb. 17. For one division, the cost is $69 and for two divisions the cost is $79. Don’t wait or you’ll pay a higher price!

To register, click here.

For more information go to www.lipridebjj.com

Pay attention and learn to sink a nice triangle and also to sweep and pass. For more info on GB Long Island, go to graciebarralongisland.com.

If you wish to enroll your academy in the GMA network, please send a message to gma@graciemag.com.

Philipe Della Monica and Otavio Sousa close out their division at the NY Open in April. Photo: Erin Herle

The 2013 IBJJF New York Summer Open is the second championship in the Big Apple this year, both closing early due to registration reaching capacity. Many competitors from all over the country, namely up and down the coast, see this opportunity as a way to test their skills against the best in the area.

The schedule is up now, the one day event is set for 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 13 with the last division beginning at 7:00 p.m. Click here to see.

The Nat Holman Gymnasium is located on the campus of the City College of New York: 138 th Street & Convent Avenue New York, NY 10031.

Make sure you arrive earlier than usual as the event has security that may delay entrances, especially early in the day.

Some of the best black belts will be present including: Osvaldo ‘Queixinho’, DJ Jackson, Rafael Rosendo, Renan Borges, Daniel Beleza, Leonardo D’avila, Vitor Oliveira and more.

GMA members Marcos Torregrosa and Daniel Alvarez will be making their way from California and Texas respectively.

GMA gyms from the area include Vitor Shaolin Academy, Renzo Gracie Academy, Marcelo Garcia Academy, Gracie Barra Long Island, Alliance NYC and more.

See you there at 9 in the morning and be ready for the long day of high-level Jiu-Jitsu. More information can be seen at www.ibjjf.org

GRACIEMAG will be present tomorrow, April 20 at the 2013 IBJJF New York International Open. Set at the City College of New York in the heart of the city, the Nat Holman Gymnasium will be the battlefield for local teams to determine who is the best. You can follow all the coverage on our google + page!

Gracie Barra has sent a team of some of their best black belts to the other coast from California. Philippe Della Monica came out and held a seminar at GMA Gracie Barra Long Island and will be present along with his teammates. World champion Otávio Sousa leads the pack that includes also Rodrigo Simoes, Gustavo Pires and Magid Hage. Renzo Gracie team has opted to represent their academy without combining into the Gracie Elite Team name and Alliance is being represented by both New York academies Alliance NYC and Marcelo Garcia Academy. Nova Uniao is holding their own with Times Square locals Vitor Shaolin Academy. Many streams of competitors will be present from all over the nation to see who comes out on top. This tournament, however, has always been very important to the teams who are all located in rather close proximity and who gains the overall lead in points to win the team trophy. Will you be present to catch all of the excitement and/or defend your team’s glory?

The schedule is up as well as the brackets so be sure to check those both below:

Click here to see the schedule!

Click here to see the brackets!

Make sure you follow our live and up-to-date coverage tomorrow for all the action on our google plus page: www.gplus.to/GRACIEMAG

Scarola (front row right) with Romulo Barral and his team

The GMA has added a new member in Long Island, NY.

Gracie Barra Long Island is headed by black belt 2nd degree Joe Scarola.

Scarola Started training Jiu-Jitsu when he was 18 years old. He has trained with and learned from many great instructors including Renzo Gracie,Rodrigo Gracie, Matt Serra, and Nick Serra.

Professor Joe was promoted to black belt in 2005 by Renzo Gracie and Matt Serra(first black belt given by Matt).

Professor Joe now continues training and learning from the great instructors of the Legendary Gracie Barra Team.

He has competed and won many Grappling, Jiu-Jitsu, and MMA competitions.

For more info, go to scarolabjj.com.

Gracie Barra Naples Annual Potluck

This year our party was at Sugden Park in beautiful, sunny Naples, Florida! After the park, later on that evening, they invited everyone out to go bowling, so students who could not make it to the park, could come try to beat Prof. Paulo at bowling, which he swears he is the best at! Professor Paulo said, “The party was awesome! It was a great turn out, with tons of delicious plates! We here at GB Naples consider our students our friends and family. They are a large part of our lives, and without them we would not be here. We love the holidays because they give us a chance to relate that message to them and really fortify that family spirit that we are all about.”

Gracie Barra America's 1st annual potluck party

This year GB America held their first annual potluck party for their students. They had a special class schedule for the students and a potluck party after the classes. The staff had a great time getting to know their students and families better. The students enjoyed socializing with each other, especially since they have been training together diligently throughout their BJJ journey. Erika Carrillo Program Director GBA USHQ said, “We had a great time at our holiday party this year! It was awesome being able to get to know our students off the mats. We have created such a strong bond on the mats with each and every one of them and this gave us an opportunity to get to know them on a personal level.”

Gracie Barra Long Island’s 2nd Annual Holiday Party and Belt Ceremony

Gracie Barra Long Island rented out a catering hall and held their 2nd Annual Holiday Party and Belt Ceremony. They had 12 promotions this year. Some of them were put off for a few months in order to make this a very memorable occasion. They promoted two students to brown belt, three to purple belt, and seven to blue belt. One instructor said, “To make this occasion special and to truly exemplify the slogan ‘Organized like a team, fighting like a family’ we flew in a special guest from the North Pole. This year Santa Claus was our host for our 2nd Annual Belt Ceremony. Having Santa Claus there was fun, but mostly it’s the camaraderie and family atmosphere that Gracie Barra instills in us that makes it special and all the GB Professors that make these occasions possible.

Gracie Barra Delray’s Holiday Graduation Ceremony

Professor Rodrigo Mendes runs Florida’s newest GB school, GB Delray Beach. They recently held their Holiday Graduation Ceremony. It was a celebration of not only the holiday season and the accomplishments of their students, but also their brand new location and their new affiliation with Gracie Barra. Professor Rodrigo praised his students, “Among the many students who graduated to higher levels in bjj were: Savio Bianchi, who was awarded his Orange Belt. He is a terrific example for all the kids in our program. Two others in our juvenile program, Lidio Meira and Marcelo Fonseca, were awarded their blue belts. Both Lidio and Marcelo won their respective juvenile blue belt divisions at the recent Miami International Open, even though they were white belts at the time of the competition. While several of our adults also increased their rank, I would like to mention that Paul Geller is a full time lawyer who makes time to train whenever he can and he also helps me teach the kids’ classes. Paul recently won his division in the Miami International Open (and took second in the absolute). Paul was awarded his Purple Belt at the ceremony. It was a great day!”

Gracie Barra Yorba Linda’s 1st Annual Holiday Potluck

Gracie Barra Yorba Linda celebrated their 1st annual holiday potluck celebration with their students and staff. The event was especially fun because it gave the staff, as well as the students, a chance to get to know each other much better. Some of the students have been training together for almost two years and they hoped that all of their students could start to truly enjoy Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as a lifestyle.